As they debate how to resolve the federal deficit, lawmakers need to avoid any additional tax increases, Heritage Foundation scholar Curtis Dubay argues.
“There will be plenty of revenue coming into Washington over the next 10 years,” Dubay explains. “Additional tax hikes would not address the problem of excessive spending but instead give more money to Congress and President Obama to spend.”
And tax increases would slow economic growth and limit opportunity: Continue Reading »
Photo: Flickr/KP Tripathi
Late Tuesday night, the House of Representatives approved the Senate’s last-minute fiscal cliff” deal that raises taxes on most American workers. Here are some answers to important questions you may have about what lawmakers actually agreed to.
What does it boil down to? The law includes $10 in tax increases for every $1 in spending cuts. Ultimately, this bill actually increases government spending by $330 billion.
Will normal Americans like me be affected?
Continue Reading »
Year after year The Heritage Foundation continues to make an impact in the fight for conservative principles. This year, Heritage’s expert policy analysts testified before Congress 34 times and distributed more than 1,100 policy reports on Capitol Hill. Below is the list of the top 10 most read research papers of the year: Continue Reading »
Last night, Heritage Foundation experts live-blogged their analysis of the issues raised as President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney debated. Heritage’s Amy Payne rounds up our what our experts were saying.
Obama repeated the falsehood that Romney’s plan would raise taxes on the middle class. This incorrect assertion was spread by a biased report from the Tax Policy Center. Romney’s plan can make pro-growth changes to the tax code and doesn’t have to raise taxes on the middle class.
Read our experts’ takedown of the Tax Policy Center’s flawed report. Continue Reading »
Poor analysis in a recent Tax Policy Center report on Gov. Mitt Romney’s tax proposal is harming the debate on tax reform.
The report erroneously claims that Romney’s plan would “provide large tax cuts to high-income households, and increase the tax burdens on middle-and/or lower-income taxpayers.”
The authors of the report neglected to take all information into account, Heritage Foundation tax expert Curtis Dubay explains, and selected only the information that best supported their unfounded hypothesis: Continue Reading »
When Taxmageddon hits on January 1, 2013, the financial devastation will be immense. Heritage Foundation experts strongly oppose the liberal plan to allow such massive tax hikes during this tough economy.
Taxmageddon will affect all Americans. Here are five consequences we can expect on January 1: Continue Reading »
Former President Bill Clinton is highlighting today’s speakers at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. Liberals often attribute the strong American economy during the 1990s to Clinton’s tax hikes. But this just isn’t historically accurate.
Heritage Foundation tax expert Curtis Dubay explains:
The economic defense of the Clinton tax hikes does not hold up against the historical facts. The economy did exhibit economic growth during the 1990s, but it was well below potential. Moreover, rapid growth did not occur soon after the tax hike—it came much later in the decade, when Congress cut taxes. After the 1993 tax hike, the economy actually slowed to a point below what one would expect, considering the once-in-a-generation favorable economic climate that existed at the time. Continue Reading »
While America should not be a nation of dependency, there does need to be a safety net for families and individuals struggling to make ends meet. One such program is the refundable child credit, which provides cash payment to low-income parents who pay no income tax. For example, a family earning $16,000 a year with two children would receive more than $7,000 in combined cash payments.
These payments are considered means-tested welfare programs as they aim to reduce the amount of income tax a family owes.
While these credits can be a great relief for struggling American families, there is mounting evidence that many illegal immigrants living in the United States are claiming these cash credits for their children.
Heritage’s tax expert Curtis Dubay explains the scope of the problem:
The extensive and rapidly growing problem is that illegal immigrants who reside in the U.S. are able to acquire ITINs (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) from the IRS and then use those identifiers to file tax returns on which they claim the child tax credit and its refundable payment. A study from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reports that the number of ITIN filers claiming refundable payments nearly doubled between 2005 and 2008 from 796,000 to 1,526,276.
Conservative estimates show the federal government will spend $7.6 billion over 10 years on child tax credit payments to illegal immigrants.
But relief is in sight, the House has introduced a bill requiring proof of a social security number in order to receive the child tax credit.
The government should not reward illegal immigration by providing illegal immigrants with cash welfare aid through the refundable child credit. The purpose of the refundable child tax credit is to help low-income working families that are legal citizens or authorized to work in the U.S.
What do you think about the Child Tax credit?
The average American family faces a tax increase of more than $4,100 in 2013 if Taxmageddon is not averted, Heritage Foundation economist Curtis Dubay said today on Fox Business.
It may already be too late. Uncertainty about Taxmageddon is already hurting the economy, he said.
Watch the video:
Do you think Congress will act to stop Taxmageddon?
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) turns to Heritage for the facts on Taxmageddon. Photo: Chas Geer
Heritage Foundation research and analysis on Taxmageddon, the massive $494 billion tax hike coming January 1, is making an impact in Washington.
How do we know? Because the Washington Post reports that Congressional leaders are relying on it to make the case for preventing the tax increase: Continue Reading »
